Laffer Tengler Investments Inc. Boosts Stock Position in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Laffer Tengler Investments Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) by 19.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 75,660 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after purchasing an additional 12,473 shares during the quarter. Laffer Tengler Investments Inc.’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $4,793,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Williams Companies by 1.5% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 133,075,340 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $8,358,462,000 after acquiring an additional 1,912,156 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in Williams Companies by 27.3% in the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 14,417,821 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $905,583,000 after purchasing an additional 3,089,390 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Williams Companies during the second quarter valued at $765,164,000. BROOKFIELD Corp ON grew its holdings in Williams Companies by 190.3% during the second quarter. BROOKFIELD Corp ON now owns 12,028,186 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $755,490,000 after purchasing an additional 7,884,730 shares during the period. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc increased its position in Williams Companies by 9.9% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 10,056,234 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $631,632,000 after buying an additional 903,457 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently commented on WMB shares. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Williams Companies from $83.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $78.00 to $89.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $78.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. Zacks Research raised shares of Williams Companies from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $69.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Williams Companies presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $75.86.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Williams Companies news, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 10,107 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.91, for a total transaction of $757,115.37. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 17,230 shares in the company, valued at $1,290,699.30. This trade represents a 36.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 27,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.92, for a total value of $1,968,840.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 293,159 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,377,154.28. The trade was a 8.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders sold 43,107 shares of company stock worth $3,133,015. 0.44% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Williams Companies Trading Down 0.7%

Shares of Williams Companies stock opened at $75.74 on Wednesday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $66.02 and its 200-day moving average price is $62.10. The company has a market cap of $92.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.39, a PEG ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 0.63. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12-month low of $51.58 and a 12-month high of $76.87. The company has a current ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.83.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 10th. The pipeline company reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by ($0.02). Williams Companies had a return on equity of 17.32% and a net margin of 21.90%.The firm had revenue of $3.20 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.10 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.47 EPS. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.200-2.380 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be paid a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 13th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.8%. This is an increase from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is currently 93.46%.

Williams Companies Company Profile

Williams Companies, Inc (NYSE: WMB) is a U.S.-based energy infrastructure company focused on the midstream segment of the natural gas value chain. The company develops, owns and operates assets that gather, process, transport and store natural gas and natural gas liquids (NGLs). Its operations support the movement of gas from production areas to end users including utilities, power generators, industrial customers and export facilities.

Williams’s product and service offering includes interstate and intrastate pipeline transmission, gas-gathering systems, processing facilities that remove impurities and separate NGLs, storage services and fractionation and transportation of NGL products.